Xander trotted hurriedly along the bustling corridor, with his bag slung lazily over his shoulder.
Gripping it's strap tightly, he jumped up into the air, just high enough to see Buffy and Willow
walking together.
"WILL! BUFF!" Unknown to Xander, the girls were ignoring him. He did *this* everyday,
embarrassing them in front of everyone, by hollering their names as loudly as possible, but today,
they weren't gonna turn around. "Oh man!" growled Xander, dejectedly. He slowed to a halt,
and watched as Buffy and Willow disappeared around a corner at the far end of the crowded
corridor. Glancing around, he saw that nobody was really paying any particular notice to him,
except for...Lydia... Xander held his breath, as he felt her surveying him, carefully. Turning, to
share eye contact with her, he saw that she was smiling at him.
"Hey! You're Alexander, right?" she asked, innocently.
"Yeah, but my mates call me Xander." He paused, uncertainly. "Uh, you're a mate, too, Lydia."
She giggled, sending surging, ripples of ecstasy through his veins. Xander was breathless. He
struggled to think of something cool to say, but nothing came to mind.
"Uh...do you always wear black?" Xander cursed himself; what sort of a chat up line was that?
Lydia didn't seem to mind though, she just smiled, flirtatiously.
"Not always," she said softly, as she wound a strand of hair through her fingers. "It's just a..."
She paused, and gazed deeply into Xander's eyes. "It's, uh, just a gang thing," she finished,
sadly. Her eyes swelled, with blossoming tears, and Xander wrapped a comforting arm around
her, protectively.
"Cheer up, Lyd," he whispered, gently, and then as an after thought, "I can call ya Lyd, right?"
She nodded slightly, and Xander could smell the sweet aroma of her delicate perfume, as her
head rubbed softly against his chest.
"I hardly know you Xander, but I feel I can talk to you," she said, as she pulled away from his
warm embrace. He gazed into her eyes carefully, trying to see what she was thinking. "I want out
of the gang," she whispered, silently.
"LYDIA!!!" A sharp, crescendo of a scream, tore along the busy corridor, and as Lydia span
around, to face it's owner, she felt Xander's hand clamp reassuringly on her wrist.
"You sure you wanna go?" he whispered. Lydia nodded, and quickly wiped her face to try and
rid all traces of her tears. "Let's do it again sometime!" joked Xander, as Lydia began to walk,
collectively, towards Kyla and the rest of her gang.
